A2 Media G323 Coursework

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media product?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj2qFREwF0k - My Director's Commentary

Our music video generally follows the forms and conventions of a typical music video as we have the band in the music video but our main use with the band shows them as part of the narrative. We challenged typical rock videos by mainly showing a narrative and the band not performing (due to issues) but like most music videos, we used the lead singer to lipsynch the lyrics. Also, we gained inspiration from Andrew Goodwin who believes music videos should use plenty of close ups of the artist so we followed this and use close ups of not only the lead singer but the girl and the boy who ends up in a relationship with her which also conforms with typical music videos. Our video does illustrate the lyrics "I thought I saw you coming, but you just kept on running" which shows the lead singer running. Also earlier on in the video, the same lyric is used to show a shot-reverse-shot between the girl and the lead singer but we used it to show his state of mind as he thinks he sees her but doesn't.

We took inspiration from Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls with the spinning chair as it signifies his confused state of mind. Mise en scene was an important part in our video as we used settings such as Warrington town centre and Woolston park to give a sense of realism. Also our key prop was the use of a rose which symbolises the relationship between the girl and the lead singer. Also, the lead singer wears clothing which represents the style and genre of the song. We keep to conventions in our digipack and poster as well because the lead singer wears similar clothing to the video which keeps continuity. Editing is important in my music video as at the beginning, the video is edited to the beat of the song which is typical of most rock videos. We also use slow motion editing as the song draws to a close which goes with the slow zoom in on the rose which signifies the girl's reflection of the events that have taken place in the video.

I am going to compare and contrast between a music video which is of a similar genre to my own music video. The music video I am going to look at is Tie Your Mother Down by Queen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0uiY-jDkzs

The video features the band which conforms with the conventions of a music video with the band performing with instruments. Our video features the band but we don't use instruments. Originally on the storyboard, we were going to use elements of performance but due to timing constraints, we ran out of time to film it. Both videos all feature lip-synching which also relates to typical conventions of music videos but a big difference between both videos is that our music video is all narrative based whereas the other is all perfomance related.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The combination of our main product and ancillary texts work well together. We noticed that most rock bands have an image of everyone from the band but we contradicted this and only featured the lead singer as this was due to commitments from the other band members. There were a couple of digipaks that were just one colour. For our digipack and poster, we used one colour which was grey, as it reflected the lead singer's misery but to show him as the centre of attention, he is featured in colour. The digipak links with our main product as does the poster which shows the use of the park from our music video and also shows our lead singer wearing items of clothing worn in the video which shows our use of consistency between all the products. From our audience feedback, it showed that our music video was popular as everyone thought it was professional. A main feature of our digipack and music video was the rose as its the one item that links the lead singer and the girl together. But also from our audience feedback, a point was raised about the girl not being in the ancillary. Originally, we were going to use the girl and the lead singer but due to problems beyond my control, we had to scrap this idea and it was noticed by our target audience so this would be a key point to consider in future.

3.What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

My audience feedback generally shows positive feedback for our music video and ancillary products as everyone thought the music video looked professional but the results did show room for improvement and changes that would be made in future. The most important points from our audience feedback included editing techniques we had used such as the jump cuts at the beginning and the usage of the girl in our ancillary pack. Also, people commented on the jumps in the narrative which reflect the style of the genre of the video but some people didn't like this which we found confusing.

This graph shows that most of our audience liked the fade to red. This suggests that the audience understand the symbolisation behind the use of the rose.

This graph shows that our ancillary packs are mostly appropriate to the song but a quarter of the people who responded believed that it wasn't appropriate. In future, I would add some questions to the first questionnaire I completed regarding the ancillary pack so this would give us a basis of an idea to work on.

This graph shows that on the whole, the jumps in the narrative were popular but some people didn't like them. In future, we may consider a narrative which has a linear form.

Also for our audience feedback, we collected comments from a number of people regarding our music video.

James - Although the plot line was well thought out and illustrated the lyrics well, there was not enough shots of the other band members, a band scene of them playing at some point would have made it seem more like a band effort than solo effort, however, the idea of it largely being narrative was a good idea as it portrays the lyrics well. It was edited well and well synced, there were no continuity errors that I could see. The digipack and the poster also linked well with the video as the rose is featured prominently which shows good continuity.

Kay - I like how the story goes and theres alot going on, with the quick shot changes, and I also like how the rose is used through all of the video and how it is featured in the ancillary products but I think the girl should've been used in the digipacks as well as the other male character as they both had an important role within the video.

Josh - The song takes a while to start but the quick cuts between shots and the storyline kept me gripped throughout. The digipack and poster also showed good consitency.

Tisya - At first I wasn't too sure about the fact half the video is filmed in a busy public place, but it seems to have made it more realistic, as the situation in the video is also very real. The digipack and poster look really effective and work well with the video.

Joe - I like the fact Peter is included in the video a lot and that he is confronted by Mike. I think Peter being there provides a contrast to Mike's mood. The ancillary products also work well with the video and go together to create a product which would challenge a professional outfit.

Sam - I like the fact that the music video is narrative based which isn't typical of a rock music video so it was refreshing to see. Also the digipack and the poster compare well to the video with the use of the rose and the lead singer but maybe the band and girl should've featured in the ancillary.

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the stages, media technologies have been pivotal in every part of production. The main source of media I have used is the internet. To complete all of the work, I have used Blogger to post my blog entries online which I have found to be user-friendly but stressful at times. But as our group wasn’t allowed to use copyrighted music for our music video, we had to find our own music so we used websites such as MySpace and Bebo to find non-copyrighted music and also asked friends if they knew any local bands. I also used Yahoo to email the band asking for their permission to use their track. Another important website I used was YouTube as I used this to analyse music videos. Facebook and MSN were vital assets for me as I was able to contact members of the band and our cast members to inform them of filming dates and times. Also, my mobile phone was a key piece of technology as whilst out filming, I had to contact everyone to make sure they knew where to be and what time to turn up at.

The use of Microsoft was key to presenting the data for our research as I used Microsoft Excel to make pie and bar charts to show our results. I also used Microsoft Word to type out my answers and then copy and paste it onto Blogger as Microsoft Word can be used without the use of the internet and is easy to use. But sometimes, work may not be saved which can cause problems with pieces of work having to be re-written. After filming our music video with the Canon XM2 which was easy to use, the main technology used then was Adobe Premiere which I found easy to use while editing the footage we shot. But we did have problems with widescreen and TV mode so we used editing techniques to alter this. Also, we used Photoshop which proved difficult to use but in the end gave us products which would match a professional unit.